Thanksgiving for RI chapel

Colleagues, friends and patients of Oxford’s Radcliffe Infirmary (RI) gathered for a final service in the hospital’s St Luke’s Chapel in February.

The RI first opened its doors to patients in 1770. It was here in 1941 that penicillin was first given intravenously and the first accident service in Great Britain began.

At the Service of Thanksgiving, more than 400 people in the chapel and an adjoining marquee  were welcomed by Canon Jessica Turner, Acting Head of Chaplaincy at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust. The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher, Acting Bishop of Oxford, talked about the importance of chapels in hospitals as places for reflection, grief and thanksgiving.

Archivists staged a fascinating exhibition of medical cases at the RI over the years. And visitors snapped up copies of Andrew Moss’ book ‘The Radcliffe Infirmary’, which is available from Blackwells in Oxford.

The majority of services in the RI, including the Eye Hospital and adult head and neck services will relocate to a state-of-the-art West Wing on the John Radcliffe site.